According to the agent involved in the deal, they think I can get these numbers...

I bet the rate of Engineers going homeless is all but 0. 

If they have money and can compete on pricing, brokers will be the best bet.  

I doubt you'll make 11% with the S&P, but it is probably still your best bet.

Make sure every dime is deposited into the trust account.Private lending, like syndication investing, doesn’t involve many transactions.

In the case of GEG, we let our members know we did not have a track record with them - they were new to us and just being tested - and therefore it was even more important to perform thorough due diligence since we can't be involved in the transaction. 

My point is this, I am actively involved/advising this investor, providing local vendors contacts (handyperson, surveyor, painters, etc) and I "don't wait for them to call me", I call them weekly. 

And lastly, market risks and mismanaged funds can also create major headaches, especially for those involved in lending groups.

Plus new folks do a very poor job of screening the buyer for Ability To Repay (ATR) which involves pulling full doc and calculating the borrowers DTI, honest income, honest debt payments, prior debt payment histor (FICO) etc etc.Plus shockingly (or shocking to sellers) if you bought this investment house, fixed it, then are selling with financing you are selling "inventory" and y9ou owe taxes on the gain in the year of sale, you are NOT able to use installment sale to spread out paying taxes. 

I involved insurance, remediation, restoration and they all did their part and finished in 2 weeks.